Because of its physicochemical characteristics, especially its nonflammability, its high wetting power, its low solvent power and its low boiling point, 1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane (known in the profession by the designation F113) is at present widely employed in industry for cleaning and degreasing very diverse solid surfaces (made of metal, glass, plastics or composites). In electronics in particular, F113 has found an important application in the defluxing and cold cleaning of printed circuits. Other examples of applications of F113 which may be mentioned are degreasing of metal components and cleaning of mechanical components of high quality and of high precision such as, for example, gyroscopes and military, aerospace or medical hardware. In its diverse applications, F113 is frequently used in combination with other organic solvents (for example methanol), in particular in the form of azeotropic or pseudoazeotropic mixtures which do not demix and which, when employed at reflux, have substantially the same composition in the vapor phase as in the liquid phase.
F113 is also employed in industry for drying various solid substrates (metal, plastic, composite or glass components) after their cleaning in an aqueous medium. In this application, which is intended to remove the water remaining on the surface of the cleaned substrates, F113 often has one or more surfactants added to it. See especially French Patent Nos. 2,353,625, 2,527,625, and European Patent Nos. 090,677 and 189,436 and the references mentioned in these patents.
Unfortunately, F113 belongs to the completely halogenated chlorofluorocarbons which are at present suspected of attacking or of degrading stratospheric ozone. Products which are free from a destructive effect on ozone and which are capable of replacing F113 in its various applications are therefore sought after.